


Tesserae

by peoriapeoria



Series: Fitter of the Species [22]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Fantastic Four (Movies 2005-2007), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Amazon Steve, Awesome Darcy Lewis, Coming Out, Domestic Avengers, Gender or Sex Swap, Long-Term Relationship(s), M/M, Marriage Proposal, Moving In Together, Pepper Potts is a Boss, SHIELD Husbands, Same Performer in Different Roles, Same-Sex Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-02
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-05-24 06:56:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 9,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6145303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peoriapeoria/pseuds/peoriapeoria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>They had found Captain America. She was alive. Alive, they had found Captain America alive some sixty plus years after she'd plowed a plane into the Arctic ice. He'd never considered this. Captain America was said to have come home, blended into the swell of men returning from the war. He'd learned that wasn't the case, that Howard Stark had been talking to Captain America until the radio was damaged.</em>
</p><p>Phil Coulson dealt in secrets. Even he could be surprised. His life reflected in pieces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

He woke up, Clint's arm wrapped around him. He laid there for a bit, savoring it before settling his hand over Clint's and slipping out of bed. It was an unavoidable price of aging, not being able to sleep through the night. Phil looked himself over in the mirror as he washed his hands. Aging had almost not been an issue; he'd had a reprieve. Loki's scars were covered by his A-shirt.

Phil returned to bed, crawling in on the other side. He slotted himself around Clint who'd sprawled forward. It still felt like a luxury sleeping in the same bed, in their bed. Some would consider that romantic. It was the reward after tumult.

He drifted, warm against Clint's bare back, one leg between his. He slipped back into sleep and their breathing synchronized.


	2. Chapter 2

He'd made the call to offer joining SHIELD to Barton. It was practical, snipers with his accuracy and abilities in hand to hand were rare. He was young, impulsive; Phil judged him to have potential.

The other handlers didn't agree. Barton didn't settle in, instead he burned through handlers with increasing speed, with several even refusing to take him for a second mission. He was the last one, and Barton was still in his probationary period.

Phil went over the mission files. Barton wasn't obedient was what the reports boiled down to. And Barton's manners were lacking. His handlers got stricter and in turn, he got more insubordinate.

Phil knew it was results that mattered. The battle of wills the handlers were waging was petty. As Barton's handler, he gave Barton more information, asked his assessment. He refused to raise his voice, ignored petty provocations. He was dependable, collected and eventually trusted. They bantered to cut the tension.

That wasn't an unalloyed benefit; Barton was attractively snarky, which even the comms couldn't save him from, unlike the man's physical charms. He had to second guess flirtation because of his own wistful thinking.


	3. Chapter 3

Phil watched his husband pour a mug of coffee eyes still shut, drinking while fitting the pot back into the machine. He rolled the omelette sealed. It was the easiest way to get Clint to eat vegetables outside of Chinese and pizza. He slid it onto a plate.

Clint sat at the counter. "Thanks for cooking," he mumbled half-way through his breakfast-- not a morning person.

Phil pulled his own breakfast out of the oven and sat next to Clint.

"What are you having? There was mac and cheese?"

"Not much, the quiche is mostly eggs and spinach." He ate several forkfuls. The mac and cheese addition was an improvement. He and Clint ate companionably, Clint finally stealing a bite from his plate.

"That's okay," Clint said around a mouthful of Phil's breakfast.

Phil stole a bite of Clint's omelette. Then he stole the plate. He kissed Clint and let him recover his breakfast. Phil finished his quiche.

Clint touched his hand. Phil smiled back.


	4. Chapter 4

SHIELD, unlike himself, was not coming back from the dead. He still wasn't sure why Tony didn't question the number of engines for the three helicarriers that ended up in the Potomac. It was true there was the matter of Mandarin or rather Aldrich and A.I.M. Thoracic surgery could be distracting.

The Avengers Initiative was their new basket and it was mainly on Steve's smile. The Battle for Manhattan didn't hurt, but it amounted to the same thing. Captain America was exactly what a jaded country needed.

Select loyal SHIELD personnel were now employed by Stark Industries. Others had joined various government agencies to trace the canker of HYDRA. He was liaising with international law enforcement in an attempt to cut off illegal funding. Ms Lewis was very informed about NGOs related to economic development.

Pepper knew people. More importantly, she knew people's people. He availed himself of five minutes here, ten minutes there, got files onto desks, into hands.

Colonel Rhodes was speaking regularly with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Steve was their great educator. People listened to her. She'd also started wearing t-shirts with hashtags printed on them during her runs. Social advocacy was trending among males 18-45. Darcy was helping on the social media front, but Steve had taken to it naturally.

Fury did his part in the shadows.


	5. Chapter 5

They'd left the common floor after his appearance and their announcement with the least obvious haste they could manage. They did exit the elevator before latching onto each other. Too much lost time, time not spent together. Phil wedged them apart, wanting a better christening of their home than frantic foyer fumbling. He looked at the very tasteful and severely formal entrance room. The console had eagle claw feet. Mirrors were hung strategically, there was even an umbrella stand.

"Natasha helped."

Phil smiled. There were two doorways, each provided with pocket doors. "Show me around." Clint had, and Natasha likewise, been moved in since the fall after the Chitauri invasion. They headed through the right door. The hall was more modern, empty gallery rails and display niches. The large room they arrived at and the attached bathroom were immaculate and unused. It was sad, depressing.

Clint slid open another door. It looked like the Fourth of July, with oak and brass accents. A balcony wrapped around providing closer viewing of the upper displays perfect for his Captain America memorabilia interspersed with storage. A few select items were displayed lower, a WWII Buy Bonds bill and a delicatessen's Support Soldiers, Send Sausage sign predominate. He smiled at the modern Captain America action figure standing alongside his childhood toy.

"There's more."

He reached out to Clint, fingers brushing his back. He hadn't remembered when he regained consciousness that he had someone to mourn him. Even once he recalled his sister, he was unaware of Clint. Fury hadn't been forthcoming.

The main room was not unfurnished. There was seating, a few things Natasha had picked for Clint and himself. The view was enviable but the room was too perfect, like it was captured for a photo spread.

He hugged Clint, like a drowning man, like he was pulling Clint to safety.

He was led into the hall and into the kitchen. This room looked used, lived in. There was a mug and a bowl in the sink, rinsed. Okay. He knew Clint wasn't used to having a lot of space. The kitchen was nice, cozy. There was a small desk with shelves built in above it, the perfect place for his cookbooks and dictionary.

Clint stepped through a door that led into a formal dining room. Phil could see how his furniture would fit into it, be complemented by what was here. The absence of a dining table was poignant, his library table still in storage.

"Clint?"

"They didn't know. It would have been obvious."

Phil cradled Clint to him. He'd not been there for Clint, after Loki's mind control, after his own supposed death, while Clint was treated as a traitor, while HYDRA turned within the apple. "Take me to bed."

"Yeah?" Clint pulled him along.

The purple shouldn't have been a surprise; it wasn't really, not with the stacked boxes, the bean bag chair and the futon. It was just very purple. There was a rainbow of purple, between the walls and the furnishings. He pulled Clint out of his clothes, stripped himself.

"I need to see." Clint was looking at his chest, at the fabric of his undershirt. He looked up into Phil's eyes. "I need to know this is real, that you're not a fever dream."

Phil skinned out of his A-shirt twisting so his back was turned. The scars were ugly.

Clint fingered alongside the entry wound's bunched flesh. "Turn around, please."

The front was worse, the exit wound in the middle, the incisions to open him up to expose the damage. The head had been shaped like a can opener and Loki's staff had burst through his chest.

"You can put your shirt back on, though you don't have to."

He did pull it down over his chest. They tumbled into the nest of bedding, desperate. Their connection was less lovemaking and more like catharsis. Spent, sticky and questioning how much of the bedding should be destined to the wash, Phil clung to Clint and looked around the room. They had never lived together in the decade they'd been married. They'd spent more time in hotel rooms than at each other's apartments. 

"Why didn't you get a dresser?" He thought he knew why Clint hadn't just stowed his clothes in the dressing room. But he didn't get living out of boxes for more than two years.

Clint got up suddenly, and left the room.


	6. Chapter 6

He proposed the second time in 2004, after Massachusetts ruled denying same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Clint accepted and they were wed that May. Officially he was still a resident, having left his mom's address as his own when he joined the Army and had not changed it since.

His sister adored Clint, had for years and him now being her brother was exciting. The four of them had a small party after the courthouse wedding. His mom made Clint give her a dance around the living room.

A short honeymoon involving a chalet and making love by fireplace light happened, though after a ski chase and rappelling. They never did find out how counterfeit cheese and all too authentic impulsion systems had become linked.

There was evidence of HYDRA resurgence. At this point it didn't matter if they were a new creation with an old name, or old cells now feeling renewed strength. Following threads, figuring out what to wait and see in order to be led to bigger fish and which to land and cauterize was delicate. This was in addition to a world increasingly complicated and armed with sophisticated weapon systems and mercenary crews being ever better trained.


	7. Chapter 7

In addition to the Avengers, there were the Fantastic Four, the X-men and assorted 'independent operators' of whom Spiderman was the most recognized. The Avengers had already established a good collaboration with the Fantastic Four.

Phil liked Susan Richards and had to grant her brother was very savvy. He had figured out how to keep them solvent and difficult to 'disappear'. Neither were negligible tasks; he just had to give Johnny his lead and only reinforce positive behaviors.

The X-men were another matter. He was disconcerted by student combatants and yet granted they had to defend themselves when the School was attacked.

He couldn't make a decision about the lone heroes. Some had very public track records such as Spiderman; others might be urban legends wrapped around shifting actors. There was some need for control, but whose? HYDRA had consumed SHIELD from within, wearing the skin as it suited their purposes. There had to be trust and too many miscarriages of trust had occurred. 

He familiarized himself with the repeating antagonists. Dr. Doom, Magneto, the various Goblins (he was surprised the FAA or DoT hadn't stepped in there), General Ross-- it was a long list. He assessed the response plans, discussed his concerns with Steve. Some she agreed were no longer working, while others had nuances he'd missed. Doctors Doom and Richards were a case in point.

Steve had developed strong relationships with the various truck and ladder companies as well as with borough precincts, working with them so in the case of an emergency they better knew how to secure life and property from threats hitherto unexpected. He wanted read in on that, but understood a lot of that was personal magnetism and history. It would take time.


	8. Chapter 8

Phil wasn't sure what he had said wrong, all he knew was that he had. Until he knew the specifics there was little he could do besides laundry, maybe shower. Forming a load was simple, since everything was purple and he'd never noticed Clint to be that picky. Actually, he thought some of these things had been white or grey long ago. He pulled on his boxers and took his load to the alcove across from the bathroom.

He found that there was detergent, and not just a full bottle. He got the load going, then crossed to the bathroom, stripped and stepped into the shower. There were no controls, but the water did come on. He borrowed Clint's pouf and body-wash, scrubbing his stomach and shoulders particularly. The down jets' pressure increased. He supposed that when the sky was no limit algorithms in the shower were unremarkable. He finished up his shower and wrapped a towel around himself before going back to the entry hall where he'd left his grip. He took it into the dressing room.

Dressed, he went back into the bathroom and picked up his shed clothes taking them back to the hamper area. He needed to locate the storage company and arrange delivery. He looked at the room's decor. Natasha apparently knew where his stuff was, but he felt he should find it himself. It had been a long road.

"The laundry is ready to go into the dryer."

It was strange that message came from the building not the washing machine. He moved over the items, the dryer starting as soon as the door shut. He looked, trying to judge when to come back. He figured the kitchen made sense as his next destination.


	9. Chapter 9

"Steve deserves her back pay."

Phil looked up from his desk screen at Barnes. "How may I help you?"

"Don't the MIA get pay, when they're found?"

He didn't like this. Death should mean implicit delegation. Steve had still been in a coma when he'd headed out to New Mexico. "Why do you think she hasn't received it? How did the subject come up?" He should have confirmed that things had been completed in his absence.

"Just yanking Steve's chain about if our younger selves had any idea..." Barnes trailed off. "And where I was going, about the money, wasn't plain to her and the rest is morbid, so I'm thinking, maybe she didn't get the same sort of deal. I know you had to do a lot of work and you were dead."

"I'll work on it. Thank you for bringing it to my attention." 

He boxed up the recriminations with the frustration for an organization that no longer existed. Phil started in on the belated task.


	10. Chapter 10

"I like-like you." Clint looked pissed off and relieved.

Phil closed the space between them and kissed Clint who just urged them on. Phil pulled them together, feeling Clint's hands up and down his back and on his ass.

"Why haven't we been doing this?" Clint asked. The question being breathed into his ear was doing nothing for Phil's ability to respond.

"I couldn't make the first move." Only long repetition to himself of the near mantra over the years let him get the words out. He was currently having trouble understanding why himself pressed up against Clint; not stripping Clint here and now was about his limit.

"Any other delays?" Clint sounded petulant. "I want to have sex with you. A lot. A lot of sex."

Phil wholeheartedly agreed and pulled back, straightened his suit. He broke the objective into parts and moved briskly to implement. "Follow me." He drove, opened his apartment door, reset the alarm. He leaned back into Clint to kiss, exploring him with his hands.

"Bed." Clint had pushed him back, still holding on to him.

Somehow he communicated where his room was. Clothes dropped to the floor. He was on the bed, Clint was on his knees, mouth on his cock. It was beyond good nor was it enough.

"Fuck me."

Clint pulled off, "I will, let me do this first." He took Phil back in.

Phil held on as long as he could. Clint's mouth was on target, his tongue pointed. He tried to pull back, push at Clint. He came, eased through the aftershocks. He's pulled up, that's so inspiring, and the bedding flipped back.

"Lube." Clint was looking down and across him. "Condoms."

Phil gestured. Clint pulled out the drawer and was good on his word, getting him stretched and sheathing into him. No amount of fantasizing prepared him for this. He captured Clint's head between his hands bringing him in to kiss. He flew.

"Yeah." Clint kissed just to the side of his mouth, lifted up and pulled out. He dealt with the condom and got out of bed.

Phil smiled as he watched Clint's ass retreating.

Clint came back with a hot washcloth. "Good time?" He cleaned Phil up.

Phil flipped him onto the bed, sprawling over him. The hands on his ass were promising. He fell asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Phil had the futon remade and Clint's clean laundry folded and stacked, his own clothes washed and put away in the dressing room, when Clint came back into the purple room.

"I'd thought you'd died. Fury let me think that for months. I thought you were dead when I let Natasha bring me here."

Phil hadn't known that. He hadn't remembered, in those early months. Later he had wondered, then he'd learned of Loki's mind control. The dressing room...

"Fury informed me when it suited him. I was too relieved to kill him; I wanted to get to you more."

Phil smiled; he couldn't resist.

Clint crowded him, almost touching all along him. "I've had some of those boxes nearly as long as we've been married. The actual boxes."

Oh. He. Phil closed his eyes.

"Think you must have been distracted every time you came over to my place."

Phil opened his eyes, looking Clint over. Okay, he looked a bit smug. Smug was good. "Focused. I was very focused."

"Not a lot of situational awareness."

That was accurate. "I trust you."

Clint leaned into him, wrapped his arms around him. Phil embraced him too.

"I haven't had a dresser since I joined the circus. Boxes are more practical, easier to move."

He hadn't noticed. And then he just spouted off. "Forgive me? For putting my foot in it?"

"In your mouth; I've been overlooking and looking forward to that for years. Human." Clint leaned back pressing their hips together tighter. "Means you're flexible."

"Can you still get your heels on your ears?"

"You're a filthy beast, husband."

"You're inspiring."

"Sweet-talker."

"Can you figure out which box to put the laundry in?"

Clint moved the stacks onto the boxes. "And?"

"Fuck me."

"An order I can get behind." Clint was good as his word.


	12. Chapter 12

Phil looked up from the small printed card with two pink hearts skewered on an arrow. It read 'Be mine'.

"We could take a weekend in Vermont." Clint exhaled. "Go to a county clerk, get hitched, buy post cards."

It was a surprise. He wanted that. He wanted to marry Clint. "Civil unions aren't marriage. It's saying we aren't equal, that we're separate."

Clint's expression fell. Phil almost accepted. Instead he took Clint to his mother's. Didn't tell him where they were going, just what to pack. The car trip lifted Clint's spirits. He became wary as they approached the house.

"Yes, I'm yours." Phil got out of the car and exhaled as the other door opened and closed. He crossed the grass and unlatched the gate, walking up the path to the door. Once Clint was beside him he rang the bell.

His mom opened the door. "Phil. Why didn't you call?" And she noticed Clint. "Oh! Come in." She pulled on Clint. "Beth! Phil's here and his friend."

"Beth's my sister." His mom was still fussing over Clint.

"Phil!" His sister launched at him. His little sister hugged him tight. She noticed Clint. "I'm Beth." She let go of Phil.

"I'm Clint, your brother's boyfriend."

"You have a boyfriend?" Beth asked Phil.

"Yes."

"So, Clint, how did you and Phil meet?" His mom led them further into the house.

"He looks strong." Beth said conspiringly. "You're lucky."

"I am, Beth, I am."

His mom decided she should start dinner and shooed Phil away from the kitchen, claiming Clint. He trusted his mother, really, he did. He just didn't like being unable to provide support, having sprung this on Clint without detailed information. Beth showed Phil her latest interests. She asked why Phil hadn't brought Clint before.

It was a good question. "He gave me a Valentine."

"Valentine's is in February."

"True." He didn't know how to explain it for Beth. Instead he pulled out the card from his breast pocket.

"Did you say yes?"

"We're here."

Beth handed back the card. "Keep that with your Captain America cards."

"That's a good idea."


	13. Chapter 13

"I can explain." Clint looked like hell, warmed up. He had with him his very much alive target-- Natasha Romanova. Her clothes would need to be burned, they were a portable crime scene.

His husband believed a Black Widow could be redeemed. From his account, either she had or was playing a long game as a double agent. She was a valuable acquisition, the intel she could provide-- But that wasn't part of his calculation. Clint was his calculation. He'd proven his judgement of people as long as Barney wasn't involved.

"Find her some clothes," he instructed Clint. "Take a shower," he said to Natasha, soon to be SHIELD's newest agent.


	14. Chapter 14

"The carters can deliver your goods tomorrow starting at 9 am." The building, Stark had called him JARVIS, spoke.

Phil hadn't figured out where his things were held. Had Natasha made arrangements before he appeared?

"I made the arrangements. Unless that time is inconvenient, in which case I should reschedule now."

"That time is fine. Thank you."

"Appointment confirmed. Do you wish to direct? Boxes will be labeled by their content's prior position."

This was going to be painful.

"I can print special instructions, that is not unusual with this company's clientele."

"No, I'll deal with it personally." After more than two years he hardly could fuss because things ended up in the wrong room. "Can you scan for unauthorized electronics as things enter?"

"Of course."


	15. Chapter 15

Captain Steve Rogers didn't exist. Phil had been going through WWII army payroll records and the closest he'd found was a Pvt. Steven Grant Rogers, which might well have been Steve's original payroll fiction. The record had SSR stamps, and as such should have had a photo attached.

From what he could tell Col. Phillips was making payments to London barkeeps that were in keeping with a Captain personally standing rounds for a special ops team. He might have missed a few, but the Howling Commandos hadn't drank all of Steve's pay; they were in field too much for that.

Steve's actual war pay was a minor matter, except as proof that she'd had it and thus continued to be part of military payroll while encased in a glacier. Without that, this was more difficult than getting Barnes his POW funds.

SHIELD had gone about this the wrong way. Part of that was trying to avoid HYDRA learning more than necessary about vital matters. Some of it was Nick's justified paranoia. Steve should have been reported recovered to the Army, though with General Ross' animus with Dr. Banner, Phil hadn't questioned a higher degree of secrecy.


	16. Chapter 16

"We need to see Mom."

Phil looked over at Clint.

"I'm willing to state I had a right to you for a few nights first, but I'm not pushing my luck past that."

"How is she?" While Nick's subterfuge didn't extend to telling his mom he was dead, her house was likely under surveillance.

"You mistake me for Natasha." Clint posed 'sexy' as the photoshop sites did. Fortunately his self-preservation instinct was better honed, so he stopped. "She'll be better seeing you. By now she may be thinking Nat is lying to her outright."

Phil sighed. "You're right."

"Can we take Lola?"

"Yes, I 'll drive."

Being able to blend conventional road travel and flight, besides being the sweetest sheet metal to be curved into a car, Lola got them there in a fraction of the time.

Clint opened the driver's side door for Phil, offering his hand. Phil shook his head smiling, and pulled against Clint's strength, popping out of the car. He closed Lola's door gently.

He reached out to press the doorbell, Clint having gotten the gate. He stood at the closed door. It flew back and his mom looked- She looked old. Phil stepped inside quickly, Clint just behind. She leaned into him.

"What took you so long?" she said still clutching him.

"Sorry."

"Clint," his mother said, "get in on this hug."

Beth patted him sharply before hugging him hard. He could hardly say it wasn't apt. Somehow Clint shifted his mom fully into a hug. Phil was a bit jealous.

"Phil, I need your help in the kitchen."

He nodded, following her.

"Just how hard was whatever happened on Clint?"

He hadn't expected that as her second question.

"Hard. Very hard."

"You do understand I don't believe you're an actuary?"

No, he had thought she'd taken his word on that.

"Clint isn't a cellist-- not unless he's doubling up on bows. I saw the NYC footage." She got a gleam in her eye, "Though that would be one way to increase orchestra subscriptions." She continued, "I've known for years that you're colleagues. I'm happy that you've got people to trust inside your secrets shell."

He realized that just as she'd seen Hawkeye and Black Widow in the streets of NYC, she'd have seen Natasha somehow in conjunction with D.C. It was likely she knew the broad outlines. There was a lot of SHIELD business that had not been part of the data dump, T.A.H.I.T.I. among them.

"Visit with your sister and send Clint in here."


	17. Chapter 17

SHIELD's debrief of Natasha was extensive. He was not party to it; there were concerns he might have been compromised. Not enough concern to assign her to another handler; that could be willingness to see if he was going down in a fiery ball of his own making. Some of it undoubtedly was fear of her training. Black Widows didn't fail.

They were also trained not to question their superiors, unless they had evidence of their superiors' disloyalty. Phil wanted to rebuild her; SHIELD didn't need operatives that were just following orders.

The most difficult part, and it wasn't like any part of Natasha's rehabilitation wasn't difficult, the most difficult part was returning her self-trust to her. She was elitely dangerous. The safety of others rested on her choice not to harm them. The Red Room had promoted that the Black Widows were separate, monsters mustered for the Motherland. Children were particularly susceptible to the technique and Russian fairy tales were rich with exploitable tropes.

After all the missions he'd sent her on with Clint, and then on her own, this was the graduation.

"Hi, Mom. I'd like to introduce Natalie."

"Come in. Hello, Natalie. Clint, give me a hug." Once his mom's feet were back on the ground she turned back to Natalie. "How do you know Phil and Clint?"


	18. Chapter 18

Phil kissed Clint's shoulder then his neck, hand cupping his hip.

"Trying to get my beauty sleep." Clint's voice wasn't selling his protestation. He was too cognizant. Sleepy Clint was a mumbly, inarticulate Clint. 

Phil kept teasing Clint until his husband pinned him to the bed. Phil wriggled against the hold just enough to get held tighter. Clint teased him shamelessly and Phil reveled in the attention. Clint nosed at the hem of his A-shirt, working up from his bare hip.

"Take it off." Phil told Clint.

Clint did, rolling them so Phil straddled him. His hand stroked up and down Phil's inner thigh. Phil put the lube into Clint's hand. Clint nipped at his skin, prepared him. "Going to ride me, cowboy?"

"Yup." Phil pushed himself down onto Clint's cock. He leaned down to kiss Clint's mouth. They moved together, eyes locked together. Clint's hands smoothed over his chest and back. Phil gripped Clint's wrist, put his fingers on Phil's scar. It was sensitive. As they made love, Clint's hands moved to his back, fingered the entrance wound.

Phil fell forward with his and Clint's completions. He caught his breath then said, "I know." It was an old joke, him appropriating Han's line.

Clint laughed. "Kiss me."

So he did.


	19. Chapter 19

Unpacking and arranging things was an onerous task. The dishes and cookware had gone pretty smoothly with Clint helping. The Captain America memorabilia he would deal with later; he'd found there were hooks for a block and tackle, so they had raised most of the boxes of the collection onto the balcony.

He realized that his life, his old life, was taking over their floor. Clint's cave was so... separate, now that the living room couch wasn't the only other place besides the kitchen to sit.

He looked at his favorite chair. It wasn't right in the living room, where he'd sit with Clint on the couch. "JARVIS, could you find me a re-upholsterer?"

"Do you want samples sent to review?"

"Good work, quick turn around and a small purple houndstooth. Can I have all three?"

"Yes, I've located just the place. Will the chair be all?"

"Thank you, yes." He thought a moment. "Could you request they make bolsters out of whatever of the old fabric is salvageable?"

"For the couch?"

Phil nodded. He still didn't know what he'd done to find himself in a science-fiction world, one of super-powered heroes and AI butlers. Taking on a god and being resurrected was only the short answer. He got back to work.

He prepared himself a sandwich once the Stark Industries employee took the chair to await pickup. He sat at the counter, eating and pondering. He knew this was a transition, several of them all rolled together. They were belated, and he could be a man of habit. He was going to have to make the effort to change.

He washed his dishes and the ones left by Clint. He returned to unearthing his life.

"Ms Lewis is here."

"Here?"

"She's in the elevator. Does she have permission to enter?"

Phil headed for the foyer. "Once I'm there, yes."

The elevator door opened and she stepped out. "Hi there. How long have you been married? Look, Clint's my friend, so I'm willing to move past New Mexico. It's movie night and you're invited; everybody is, but you're the only one that's new right now."

"I've got a lot to do."

"Bullshit. Maybe you do, but it's not like it's timed. This is when you need to figure out how to fit in. I've heard you're a big Captain America fan, so why aren't you upstairs? Is reality too challenging?"

"You're goading me." Phil had only reacted to Darcy, not truly considered her in New Mexico.

"Yep."

She was doubling down, she knew the strength of her arguments. He considered that he had also been unpacking all day.

"It's come as you are. Unless you've been sparring, or running, that's not cool. But you're just rumpled."

The elevator opened and she turned her back on him. Phil followed her in.

He stepped out into the common floor. The plan had changed from when he'd brought Tony the file; that was more noteworthy now.

"Phil." Pepper waved from her perch.

Stark and Banner were sitting together nearly engulfed by the couch. Steve was sitting on the floor in front of Bruce; she was getting a shoulder rub and eating popcorn from a very large bowl. Sam and Natasha were curled together. He didn't see Clint.

"Hey." Clint came from some unseen kitchen, leaned over and kissed him. "Where do you want to sit?"

Phil looked at the options and chose the floor. Clint sat beside him holding the snacks.


	20. Chapter 20

"Cheese." Nick Fury looked different in James Joyce glasses, green left lens flaring, and mock neck, tweed cap sitting on the booth's table top.

Phil slid in across from him.

"Congratulations." He tipped his head, taking in Phil's hands.

Phil didn't rub his bare finger. "Thanks." He smiled at the waitress that came over with their plates and a pot of coffee.

"You didn't invite me."

He chuckled. They had an entire code they'd built over the years. Nick had ordered their meals before he arrived, but wasn't already eating when Phil came in. He read his plate. "How's the tour?"

There was a mole. Or Nick wanted him to believe there was one, act as if there were a mole. It could just be cover for any allusions successfully read.

"Do you know what you're doing?"

It could also just be that Nick liked, occasionally, to paint him into a corner.

"Only one way to find out." Thing was, it did work both ways; Nick couldn't actually reprimand him for getting married. Justifying his relationship wasn't even on his top one hundred things to do. He really didn't need another, "Barton, what the hell?" conversation. Cameras had gotten better since then and there were a lot of reflective surfaces.

They ate, providing information they wanted taken back where it could start doing damage. Moles were the most reliable sort of double agent, when you knew and took advantage.

Fury paid the bill to the waitress, saying, "Keep the change". It was exact including tip.


	21. Chapter 21

Phil was at loose ends, the Avengers having gone to China to deal with a suspected alien spacecraft recently excavated. Having downtime was rare enough with SHIELD; as Clint's preferred handler their schedules coincided well. He had been more likely to be busy with Clint recuperating or relaxing.

That wasn't the current situation. He finished the unpacking. He'd realized that Clint's boxes at times had worn a tabletop. He didn't know why that wasn't currently the case. He only moved them to one side so the futon and his returned chair could vee, the bean bag chair the third corner of a triangle. If any of that was a problem, it would be a simple fix.

He couldn't settle. Clint's room was too redolent of Clint without him about and the rest of their floor had too little Clint or too much view. The living room suffered from both conditions. He placed a bookmark in his book and headed for the elevator. He left the book on the entry table. Another problem with reading in the living room, no place to stow a book.

"Common floor."

The doors parted and he stepped in. They closed and then opened again shortly. He stepped out. Clint had told him of Loki's comeuppance, when Hulk smashed the Jotunn repeatedly against the floor, forming a large divot. He pulled back the carpet covering the resin filled hole. There were inclusions suspended in the clear material, translucent purple stellates and glittery clouds.

"Agent Coulson." 

He should have realized Dr. Banner would be sitting this one out. "Phil is fine." He pulled the carpet back over the memento of the Battle for Manhattan.

"How long before Clint knew you were alive?"

"Too long. It wasn't my choice." He didn't want to go into that. "You and Steve looked cozy."

"Yeah." Bruce looked away and then back. "How long have you been married?"

"Ten years."

That clearly wasn't an answer Bruce had expected. Phil watched him slide pieces about in his head.

"How long have you been together?"

Phil considered that seriously. "Less than eighteen. That's when we met. It, it took awhile." He realized that even lowballing to Clint's proposal they'd been together longer than Bruce's parents. Longer than his mom had had his father before the car crash.

That was a scary thought. He'd not considered just how fortunate they'd been; you couldn't in their business, not really. Coming back from the dead had changed his perspective.

"Did you approve of the Hulk containment?"

"Given the alternative, yes." He hadn't liked the World Council's recommendation. That it'd been followed by launching nuclear missiles into a major city...

"Which was?"

"Hulk-busters. Stane had a version of an Iron Man suit, it could have been refined. The casualties were unacceptable." It wasn't lost on him where General Ross had engaged, which lives he'd put at risk beyond those of his men.

He wasn't sure if that surprised Dr. Banner because he hadn't considered the option or because being told the truth was unusual. Phil could tell the scientist was angry, something he tried not to show. Bruce could extrapolate the sort of damage anything that was a threat to Hulk could do; Phil waited him out.

"Granted." Bruce's shoulders dropped.

Phil nodded. Shortcuts sometimes were all you had, and you just dealt with the consequences of that instead of the worse alternative.

"Well, on that note, I've got Youtube videos to watch. JARVIS, prepare Cats in Boxes." Bruce exited in the direction of the elevator.

That could have gone better.


	22. Chapter 22

"That's your father's chair." Clint stared at the wingback as if he was hallucinating its new purple fabric. They'd done a top-rate job, it had never looked better and it was more comfortable.

"It was time for a change. I wasn't sure just what you wanted to do with this space. If it's an imposition--

"Phil, kiss me."

He did, but Clint kissed him back with a will. After, Clint rested his forehead against Phil's. "Thank you. That's, you've done a lot of things, bringing me in, sharing your family, that's- Do you think he would have liked me?"

"I've asked that question more times than I can count about myself. I like to think he would decide we're better together. You're very good with Beth."

Clint stood back, still holding onto Phil. "She's a good sister."

"That she is. I seem to recall several different table tops hiding your boxes."

"True. I never move more than I have to. Return to the laundry room what the laundry room provides."

Phil judged this was a moment to say nothing. Clearly it hadn't bit Clint in the butt. He couldn't say it was more risky than jumping off buildings.


	23. Chapter 23

They had found Captain America. She was alive. Alive, they had found Captain America alive some sixty plus years after she'd plowed a plane into the Arctic ice. He'd never considered this. Captain America was said to have come home, blended into the swell of men returning from the war. He'd learned that wasn't the case, that Howard Stark had been talking to Captain America until the radio was damaged.

She had been encased in ice. The front of the plane had been made of panes of glass. Whether she'd crawled to where she was found or was thrown was unclear. Had she been conscious as she froze?

The doctors were bringing her temperature up slowly. For anyone without the Serum she'd be in hypothermia. She was being kept cold so her injuries could heal, including the ones the ice had caused.

He heard the shoe leather, saw Fury's reflection in the observation window glass. He stepped out of the room, Nick following.

"I need you in New Mexico. Things are getting interesting."


	24. Chapter 24

"Phil, thank you for meeting with me on short notice." Pepper greeted him from her desk.

He suspected that JARVIS knew he was ready enough to make such an impromptu appointment with Pepper. JARVIS certainly was aware of his wardrobe options. "My pleasure. How may I help you?"

"I have a job for you. The Avengers Initiative."

"I haven't developed superpowers." Did he just say that? "Sorry." He can't believe he said that to one of the most powerful and busy women in the world.

"They need a wrangler; Steve has been doing the behind the scenes, the on the scene and the see and be seen scene. I have every expectation you can bring her workload down to merely herculean."

That was a lot to put on someone just back from the extended dead, even with the Super Soldier Serum. "I'm on it."

"Not until you read through the official offer, with the numbers."

"Understood."

"And figure out a payroll," she paused for effect, "once you're on the payroll."

He smiled and left.


	25. Chapter 25

Phil got out of the elevator on the common floor. It was Thursday, so everyone that was around would be gathered. He'd spent the day settling into his office and familiarizing himself with missions since the Battle for Manhattan.

He'd included the media tour post-revelation that Doctor Banner was Hulk's alter ego. Steve hadn't been so public since D.C. He wasn't sure if that was or wasn't the right call. Keeping things quiet was his experience, so it was a facet he'd have to improve on.

He took in who was gathered around the tv. Natasha was sitting between Sam and Bruce. Tonight Tony was sitting in a chair, tablet ignored on his knee while he spun blue schematics in midair. Thor was sitting between Jane Foster and Darcy.

"Son of Coul! I have been told of your return to Clint's side. Confronting Loki was very brave."

"Got your oven roasted pumpkin seeds and chickpeas, fried buffalo wings, poppers, pickles, pizza bites." Clint was carrying a laden tray as was Steve. Clint handed Bruce a plate with a lot of the first two and something covered in gooey cheese. 

"What are those?" Darcy asked.

"Goat cheese covered figs." Clint answered. "Not standard." He kept handing out refreshments on one side while Steve covered the other. Natasha shifted over Sam, Steve taking her vacant spot next to Bruce. The movie was started, Tony's schematics winked back to his tablet and Phil let himself be pulled into place beside Clint.

He watched the movie and ate sparingly. He'd eaten a post-lunch to deal with the not actually dinner. The battered and deep fried pickles were suprisingly good. That they were the same size as the poppers would be cruel if the cream cheese didn't sooth the peppers' heat.

Once the movie was over, Phil stood up. "I wanted to tell everyone this together, I've taken the support   
position with the Avengers Initiative."

"What support position?" Natasha asked.

"The role is a work in progress." Phil smiled at her. He knew she was still creating new covers, was following some leads with Sam when Steve would be too obvious.

"Shouldn't the Avengers have known there was a support position to be filled?" asked Steve. Or, considering her voice, asked Captain America.

"Let's get the next movie going." Clint stated. He didn't look at Phil. It was a chilly way to watch a movie.

Clint got up during the end credits of the second movie. Phil followed him to the elevator, into and then out at their floor. He was a little surprised by Clint's terminus, he went to brush his teeth. Phil followed suit.

Clint rinsed and kissed him. "Now, you want to try explaining the thing you announced, again?"

"Pepper wanted to thin out how much was on Steve's docket."

Clint smiled. That seemed promising. It wasn't a feral smile. "What you said didn't sound like you were Steve's guy Friday. JARVIS, Girl Friday is from a movie, isn't it?"

"Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, 1940."

"Friday was from a book. Should I explain--" He looked down at Clint's finger against his lips.

"I'll talk to Steve, lay some groundwork. And let's keep Pepper on need to know. Pepper will tell anyone that needs to know she hired you."

"Have I been this bad? I don't recall being this bad."

Clint turned him and walked them to their room. "You were an authority in SHIELD. You'd earned it and you acted it. SHIELD's gone and what worked, it's no longer the right tack." He smiled in amusement, the gleeful sort that boded ill for someone.


	26. Chapter 26

Phil woke up half hanging off the bed, caught by Clint's arm around his chest. He eased his legs back against Clint's and was pulled half over Clint.

"Come here often?"

"You're still asleep."

"Yep." Clint nuzzled and his hand teased against Phil's stomach, under the hem of his A-shirt. "Hold it against me?"

"We need a bigger bed." It was sad, Phil realized, he was just figuring that out. When Clint was over they didn't want for space and when he wasn't the bed was too empty. Sleeping was a different proposition.

"Like having you at my fingertips."

"Roll over." Phil followed Clint, draping over his back. The shimmy was interest provoking. He contented himself with a close investigation of Clint's back between the shoulder blades. He sank into sleep as their breathing synched.


	27. Chapter 27

Phil was awash in paperwork. Insurance forms, liability forms, tax regulations, intellectual property regulations, software licenses; tip of the iceberg. The combination of something new and something he was good at was soothing. He could get up, start his day and have his first coffee break with Clint, get in another good chunk before lunch and zip along until dinner with an exercise breather wedged in somewhere.

He worked through EPA, Sanitation, OSHA and other governmental agency phone trees getting to know their structures. Some of this had been done by SHIELD; SHIELD had likely made their way like an 800 pound gorilla more often as not. That wasn't an option.

He figured out how to get the chili dinners and other fundraisers to net more, through corporate sponsorship with very small typeface acknowledgements. He wrote monthly food bank donations into the agreements suspecting that had been the previous destination of the not yet past best by date comestibles provided in kind.

Phil met with the Avengers licensing team. They were lawyers, to a woman. Top notch. That part was in good hands.


	28. Chapter 28

"Just the man I was coming to see." Steve Rogers greeted Phil as she entered the elevator.

"I didn't make a good introduction."

"Been there, I pointed out alleys to Agent Carter."

That would have been on the way to the procedure. "I'm here to help. You've got a full plate."

Steve chuckled. "Understatement. Okay, how have you been doing with the scutwork?"

"Driving through. Thanks, for accepting Clint."

"Natasha vouched for him. And I needed all the help I could get." She looked forward. "It's fortunate that HYDRA tipped their hand. I only had hints of what was wrong until I was attacked in an elevator. But I still don't know how Insight's list was started."

Phil met Steve's question head on. "The Index was supposed to be for the talents' own good. Get them help, protection. I met a number of them personally." HYDRA wasn't the only one attracted to that knowledge. Centipede got to Chan Ho Yin through them and Agent Kwan also died as a result. They had missed so many actual plots while preparing HYDRA's weapons of conquest. 

"Bucky's my best friend. He followed me back out into hell and I lost him from the train. I'd thought he'd died. Instead Zola got his hands on him again. That was Bucky's biggest fear and he still went with us to get Zola."

Phil thought about that, if Natasha hadn't gone after Clint, if Loki had won. Clint had been rescued. Steve had had to actually fight through Barnes to take out Insight, save millions of people.

Steve turned to Phil. "How? How did it happen and how did Fury not know? Few lies last that long. Secrets are too fragile."


	29. Chapter 29

Phil still could not believe the figure attached to his job. Yes, this was NYC, yes there were things he'd be paying for out of pocket SHIELD had provided. He also had no rent payments nor utilities.

Setting a payroll for the team was fairly simple. He knew what Clint and Natasha had been paid on book and under the table. It was comparable to his own new salary. He looked up what Sam had been making while deployed; military pay was a crime only partly offset by education and other benefits. The skillset was not the same as his agents, but factoring in the wings? Specialized wasn't close to it.

He'd broken down Wilson's role in taking apart Project Insight. He'd accelerated to swoop up a plummeting Captain America and then hauled her through the air without any tandem harness or other assist. Multiply that over the course of the operation. Copying the number a third time was a bargain. So, that settled the numbers for three.

Steve, he upped the figure to get 1776 in there. He figured the contractor model was best for the balance of the team. Stark because he could reuse numbers, which honestly were artificially low; SHIELD actually hadn't been able to afford Tony at his fair market value. The issues of EISA Thor posed... Figuring out fair compensation for Bruce took the longest.

A task completed, an inbox to go.


	30. Chapter 30

"Hello?" Phil was still nonplussed by people calling, since only Clint and Nick had visited his old apartment. JARVIS had announced Janet Van Dyne, and she did seem familiar...

She flew out of the elevator and circled him. He failed to counter that, though she did come to rest in front of him. "Not what I was expecting, but you have possibilities. Did your tailor know you were looking for camouflage?"

"Who's saying there was a tailor?"

"No suit is cut that perfectly mediocre off the peg. And your jacket is hanging just enough I can see where your holster would be."

"Doctor Banner." He bit down on the rest of that sentence. Now his rumple looked intentional; Phil had thought that was not picking up clothes on the run.

"He's turned out well, for how little he lets me do. Now, I'm going to ask you one question, do you think that suit garners anything other than attention in Midtown?"

Phil realized that he was being outmaneuvered. "The wrong camouflage is a signal?"

"Too D.C. Now, normally I don't hide men, they do enough of that to themselves excepting the ones that should be hid. Since you are Clint's husband I will make an exception, and point out that you have two ways to go; an excellent suit or dress down. Way down. If you dress down enough you can probably pass for someone too wealthy to have ever been photographed. Might be too extreme for you.

I recommend the suit. I can get you in with a tailor. You will have to decide whether or not you'd be carrying." She looked at his jacket in disapproval.

"Now, let's go inside and figure out how to give Clint a surprise."


	31. Chapter 31

"He's here." Clint came into the living room and sat beside Phil on the couch.

Phil took another sip of his scotch.

Clint slid over wrapping his arm around Phil's shoulders. "Steve's boy, what's left of him, is here."

"How'd you know?" He looked at Clint.

"That's the tie and shirt that are sewn together. Thank you, by the way."

"He remembers who he was. He also remembers the rest, so it depends how you meant it." Phil finished the glass. "He was turned over to Zola."

"By whom?"

"The U.S. Army."

"What do you want me to cook?"

Phil shook his head.

Clint asked, "Will you eat a grilled cheese sandwich?"

He started to say no. "Yeah." He knew after the first bite he'd be hungry. 

"Okay." Clint got up, offered Phil a hand and gathered the empty rocks glass.

Phil pulled himself up. Grilled cheese didn't take long, so he followed Clint into the kitchen slipping buttons through. He pulled out his shirttail and loosened the knot.


	32. Chapter 32

"So, want to inaugurate it?" Clint asked from behind him. 

Phil had just finished making their new bed. He turned, latched onto Clint and stopped supporting his weight. Clint held him. Never got old.

"That a 'yes'?" Clint teased, kissing him sweetly, gently. 

Slyly 'chaste' and thus inciting. Maybe that was prior knowledge. Phil started undressing them rather than reply. No losers in this sort of 'chicken'. Clint helped by switching his holds and 'helped' by nibbling and kissing him in increasingly distracting ways. Phil pulled off his A-shirt dropping it on the floor. He got Clint bare-assed, pushed his briefs down and swept Clint into bed.

"Where's the damn compartment?" Clint was unsuccessfully frisking the headboard.

Phil popped the panel, letting Clint at the lube. He was surprised when Clint slid down on him sooner than he'd expected fingers in him. Clint kissed him hungry. Phil kissed Clint back, trying to follow him.

"Bask." Clint pushed him back and lifted, dropping back down.

Phil smiled. He thrust up, ran his fingertips along Clint's thighs, pulled Clint down to kiss, palmed his sides. He was thrumming. Phil held on as Clint shook him apart.


	33. Chapter 33

Phil was a bit nonplussed to find Barnes sitting in his office, his locked office, dressed to lunch with Jan. He rounded his desk and sat. It wasn't as if Barnes would have been less dangerous made to wait outside. "Something you wanted to talk about?"

"Not want, need. I'm, it used to be different. It might have been different, elsewhere." Barnes fell silent.

Phil waited. It wasn't lost on him that rather than talk this out with his friends, Barnes had come here.

"I was in love, before the war." Barnes halted, marshaled his words. "Not the right sort, I didn't know what to do with it."

He reminded himself of how much had changed, how his intel was limited and suspect. This didn't have to be Barnes coming out. This could be about religion or race.

"All the brainwashing didn't make it go away. I was careful not to let them suspect."

That was sounding like coming out. 

"The Navy Yard was there, in that part of Brooklyn. So was a red light district. Sort of cause and effect."

Phil's ability to stay poker faced was tested.

"Guys that used guys were guys. It was the ones used that were fairies. The world changed but it didn't do it soon enough. I don't know how to catch up."

Okay. "I'll find you a 101 and a FAQ. That's a basic primer and a list of answers to frequently asked questions. Should give you an overview." Phil got up, came around his desk and leaned against it. "Fairy is a fighting word."


	34. Chapter 34

"Got it." Clint's voice came over the comms.

Phil released a breath. "Reel yourself in and close the gate."

Mosasaurs in the Mississippi. Okay, so it had a certain juvenile appeal. Twenty feet of scaly prehistoric hunger. Captain America punching one was bound to be an instant classic. "Avengers, are all of the lizards accounted for?"

"Who says I was hanging outside of the quinjet?" Clint sat in the co-pilot seat and belted in, transferring controls to himself. "I've got this. You deal with SPCA and whatever other authorities."

That was going to be a bureaucratic joy. The fight had sprawled; the GPS was not happy, possibly from misleading the door safety override. "Captain, where are you?"

"With the Coast Guard. We have any publicity pictures?" she asked.

"Yes, we do." Phil answered.

"I'm in St. Paul." Sam was good at establishing and relaying location.

"Iron Man?" Phil asked.

"Yeah, St. Paul." Tony interjected. "Reboot your GPS. It thinks you're in Shanghai. JARVIS, order take out."

Phil was able to find a large enough parking lot for Clint to land. He wasn't going to ask how much Tony tipped to get the restaurant to run the food over. Some things were better unknown. Barnes walked aboard with the tranquilizer gun snug across his back.

Steve checked in with Natasha; Bruce's presentation at the conference had went well. They were expected back at the tower about the same time. Meanwhile the pizza boxes and other take away boxes had been opened. 

Phil got up. "I'll bring you back something."

Clint smiled.

Phil nodded at Barnes sitting tailor-style and looked over the choices, determining what would least interfere with Clint's piloting and what he himself wanted.

"You, sit. Birds of a feather--" Sam gestured with a laden plate. "I've got this." He headed into the cockpit.

Phil nodded, then served himself a plate and grabbed a piece of pizza. Barnes folded a slice in half and bit into it, his other hand bringing up forkfuls.

"Good work." He said and then started eating.

"Thanks, Phil." Steve took another bite.

Tony made a noise that might have been assent, might have been satisfaction with the food. Could be dubbed into any porno soundtrack that needed punching up.


	35. Chapter 35

Clint slid back into bed, bearing up Phil's A-shirt in one hand.

Phil tossed the proffered shirt and rolled over, edging back against Clint. This was bliss, no post-coital window exits. The small spoon was just icing.

"Really?" Clint's voice rumbled through him, chest pressed all along his back. 

"Yeah." The scars were still ugly, but they were theirs. His robe was at hand for when he got up. Clint was asleep and Phil followed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks, majoline, for the beta.


End file.
